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Teams Compete In Western Pa. Lego League Championship

McCANDLESS (KDKA) — Two brothers from Fox Chapel have a shot at being named world champions after winning the largest First Lego League Championship in Pittsburgh this weekend.

The brothers, on the team named “Not the Droids You Are Looking For” are moving on.

Seventy-five teams packed the gym at La Roche College. But these kids, wearing black and gold, don’t have anything to do with football, baseball or hockey.

They are competing in the Western Pennsylvania First Lego League Grand Championship.

“There are obstacles on the game board and you have to program your robot to complete the obstacles,” said Elizabeth Kamin, a Lego robotics competitor.

Teams of as many as 10 kids, ages 7 to 13, compete for a shot to move on to the world championships.

“As long as teams competed in one of the qualifiers, they could attend this event, and the winner from this event — not only in the table game but in all the different elements — will actually go to the world championships in St. Louis in April to compete against teams from all across the world,” said Timothy Friez, the head judge.

They must build and program their robot to complete the assigned tasks, but there’s a whole lot more to it than that.

“A tabletop game that has a lot of different challenges that a completely autonomous robot has to complete, then they also have a research project, a teamwork challenge and also a presentation about how their robots and programs work,” Friez said.

For kids, the plastic blocks teach them about science, technology, engineering and math.

“I learned about a lot of projects and teamwork, and I learned how to program some stuff so it’s just really fun altogether,” Kamin said.